Summer brings music festival season to the northern Rocky Mountains, and Wyoming’s Teton Mountains provide a picturesque backdrop for the ninth annual Targhee Fest at the Grand Targhee Resort on July 19-21.

Targhee Fest involves much more than music. It also abounds with the culture and lifestyle of the Rocky Mountains. The three-day event occurs at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, right near the Grand Targhee Resort, which offers lodging, dining, lift-serviced hiking and biking, and shopping. Camping for festival-goers is also offered right near the main music venue.

“It’s a great space,” says Tom Garnsey, whose Vootie Productions company has made Targhee Fest a success since its inception in 2004. “You can mountain-bike from the venue into some of the most beautiful country in the world. Camping [at Targhee Fest] is about 200-300 yards from the stage. The hotels are 300 yards from the stage. It’s just a magical setting.” Garnsey adds that Targhee Fest is a family-friendly affair.

“Our kids have grown up there,” Garnsey says of Targhee Fest. “And people who go [to Targhee Fest]…always seem to come back. Because it’s bigger than the music.”

Not that the music isn’t big. Past acts have included Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, Patty Griffin, Jonny Lang, and more. This year’s lineup is as big as ever.

Holly Williams is scheduled to get the ball rolling on Friday. She is the granddaughter of country music legend Hank Williams, Sr., a legacy she has neither tried to live up to, or avoid, for that matter. But Holly Williams will be bringing her own special flavor of country music to the Targhee Fest crowd.

Next up is Anders Osborne. National Public Radio pitches Osborne as “a songwriter [with] astonishing range…his vocals are expressive and pitch-perfect.” With music ranging from “muddy backwater blues to upbeat country rock,” Osborne should fit in perfectly with the mountain mood that Targhee Fest is known for.

John Hiatt and The Combo take the stage next. This award-winning singer-songwriter, who also plays the guitar and piano, remains one of the more influential musicians on the American stage. His musical style ranges from New Wave to blues and country, and Hiatt has been wowing audiences since the mid-70s. Targhee Fest is sure to give him and his band a warm welcome.

Los Lobos [The Wolves] will finish Friday’s performances on the main stage. This band out of East LA are dubbed an “American Chicano rock band,” and their music is influenced by rock, Tex-Mex, country, folk, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music. The Targhee Fest crowd is sure to take to Los Lobos with howls of appreciation echoing off the mountainside.

The music gets started onstage a few hours earlier on Saturday, which means more entertainment for the audience. The venue opens at 11:00 am, and Sarah Jarosz hits the stage first. A Texan with a knack for playing the guitar, banjo, and mandolin, Jarosz is “widely regarded as one of acoustic music’s most promising young talents,” according to the New York Times.

Next up are The Mother Hips, a San Francisco-based rock band performing Indie and alternative rock as well as folk. The Mother Hips are quite popular in the Bay area, and should please the folks at Targhee Fest as well.

Son Volt takes the stage next. Known as an “alternative country band,” Son Volt was formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of the band Uncle Tupelo. The band’s music ranges from quiet folk and country ballads to roadhouse rock and roll. The band recorded a tribute song for Alejandro Escovedo, who hits the stage at Targhee Fest right after Son Volt.

Escovedo hails from a musically-inclined family. He is the son of Mexican immigrants to Texas, and his music has spanned genres from punk rock to country. No Depression magazine named Escovedo Artist of the Decade in 1998, and though he is not well known in mainstream music circles, Escovedo has a large underground following, and he is certain to have many fans [and gain new ones] at Targhee Fest.

Following Escovedo on the stage is Allen Toussaint, an influential musician and composer as well as record producer, who grew up in New Orleans and is well-known in the Big Easy’s R&B circuit. Toussaint has written such covers as “Southern Nights,” and “Working in the Coal Mine,” and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers close out Saturday’s entertainment on the main stage. Awarded the best new artist Grammy in 1997 with his band The Range, Hornsby continues to excite audiences with his touring band The Noisemakers.
On Sunday Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds get the show started with their eight-piece lineup that puts a modern spin on classic soul. Led by Arleigh Kinchella [Sister Sparrow], who is backed up by seven male vocalists composing the Dirty Birds, this band’s live show is reportedly a blast, and should roust the Sunday late sleepers at Targhee Fest right out of their tents and hotel rooms.

Next up is David Alvin & the Guilty Men. Alvin, a Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter, says that “There are two types of folk music: quiet folk music and loud folk music. I play both.” Considered to be a pivotal founder of the modern Americana music scene, Alvin and his band should be in fine company with the crowd at Targhee Fest.

The Wood Brothers take the stage following Alvin and his Guilty Men. The Wood Brothers are true siblings who weave their voices together for a “sort of high lonesome harmony blend” that has become their trademark sound. That high lonesome sound should blend nicely with the high lonesome country that is the Targhee region.

JJ Grey & Mofro entertain the Targhee Fest crowd next. This band can move crowds to dance or tears, with tunes that the New York Times describes as consisting of “Impassioned singing, riff-based Southern rock, cold-blooded swamp funk, and sly Memphis soul.”

With the festival winding down, the Alabama Shakes hit the stage next, and are sure to energize the die-hards. This rock group from Athens, Alabama, received three nominations during the 2013 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. The band’s rise to fame has been swift, including making the rounds on the late-night talk show with Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, and even Saturday Night Live.

Bozeman’s own Hooligans, whose members including Targhee Fest producer Tom Garnsey, will wrap things up at the 2013 show. For more information on this gem of a music festival held in the heart of the Northern Rockies, contact Grand Targhee Resort at 1-800-Targhee, or visit their website at grandtarghee.com

Pat Hill is a freelance writer and music lover from Bozeman Montana.